I currently use Windows 7, and have done continuously since the release candidate, and generally find it to be excellent. Nonetheless, I'm trying to make a concerted effort to switch to Linux; mostly to support FOSS, but also for a few practical considerations.

Having played around with a number of distributions in VirtualBox, I've come down to a shortlist of three: Kubuntu, Linux Mint and Fedora. I very much like KDE, mainly due to its reasonably traditional but still innovative shell and its excellent handling of window snapping (it's just what Aero Snap should have been!), so even if I go for Linux Mint or Fedora I would use the KDE versions.

I'm reasonably comfortable with Linux, having used Fedora in the labs at university, and used Ubuntu/Xubuntu in a VM whenever I needed access to Linux at home.

My question is, why should I go with Linux Mint over Kubuntu or Fedora? Most of the comparisons I find on the internet are essentially KDE vs Cinnamon vs GNOME vs Unity etc. rather than the actual OS, and as I'd go with KDE whichever OS, those comparisons don't really apply.

I have been using Linux Mint 13 KDE for past 4 months or so and am loving it. (Upgraded KDE to 4.10.1 and desktop experience is elegant).A good question indeed. One thing I can think of is the software manager, packaging, support, user forums, etc. I had a look at Nadia KDE and could not ascertain much (lists few system and artworks improvements)the exact value add by Mint team on KDE desktop. Keen to know on this from other forum members.

anandrkris wrote:I have been using Linux Mint 13 KDE for past 4 months or so and am loving it. (Upgraded KDE to 4.10.1 and desktop experience is elegant).A good question indeed. One thing I can think of is the software manager, packaging, support, user forums, etc. I had a look at Nadia KDE and could not ascertain much (lists few system and artworks improvements)the exact value add by Mint team on KDE desktop. Keen to know on this from other forum members.

I'd be interested to know as well.

I'm loving Mint 14 KDE so far, but it would be interesting to know the differences between it and kubuntu. So far the only difference my searching has mentioned is the icons.

madanra wrote:My question is, why should I go with Linux Mint over Kubuntu or Fedora?

Good question. All three are good. Depends on what you like in a distro. I've used all three, but the only one I'm running of those three right now is Fedora. Some other very nice KDE distros or spins include Sabayon, Chakra, and Mepis. I've also got openSUSE's KDE spin running here, and it's excellent. Some people just prefer to run Debian with KDE. PCLinuxOS, another very good one.

I've pretty much used or tried everything under the sun in terms of Linux distros, and I have to say that in terms of overall usability and out-of-the-box functionality, you can't go wrong with Mint. I would also say that in terms of software and package management, you simply cannot beat Debian-based Linux distros. This issue in and of itself is one reason I cannot embrace either Fedora or openSUSE. Their package management is chunky/clunky in comparison. The only thing that comes close to me is pacman in Arch. Having said that, I like the clean, no BS non-package management of Slackware even more.